A technology blog for The Economist Group IT team
Friday, June 30, 2006
Mosquito deterrent becomes secret ringtone
Compound Security, a firm of two people based in Wales developed the Mosquito
ultrasonic deterrent system to combat anti-social behaviour by "encourganing" teenagers to move away from an area. The Mosquito works on the principle that the high pitch tone (18 to 20 kHz) can only usually be heard by people under the age of 20.
The fact that the tone can't normally be heard by adults has spawned a whole new use for it - as a ringtone on the mobile phones of schoolchildren so that teachers are unaware that pupils are texting each other in class.
Banning mobile in school would seem to get round that problem.
You can hear (or not) the tone courtesy of the NYT.
ultrasonic deterrent system to combat anti-social behaviour by "encourganing" teenagers to move away from an area. The Mosquito works on the principle that the high pitch tone (18 to 20 kHz) can only usually be heard by people under the age of 20.
The fact that the tone can't normally be heard by adults has spawned a whole new use for it - as a ringtone on the mobile phones of schoolchildren so that teachers are unaware that pupils are texting each other in class.
Banning mobile in school would seem to get round that problem.
You can hear (or not) the tone courtesy of the NYT.
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